Mantellinae is a subfamily of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is ...

s in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Mantellidae The Mantellidae are a family of the order Anura. These frogs are endemic to the islands of Madagascar and Mayotte. Systematics The family Mantellidae is composed of three extremely ecologically diverse groups of frogs, divided into three sub ...

. These frogs are native to

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

and

Mayotte Mayotte (; french: Mayotte, ; Shimaore: ''Maore'', ; Kibushi: ''Maori'', ), officially the Department of Mayotte (french: Département de Mayotte), is an overseas department and region and single territorial collectivity of France. It is loca ...

. The species vary in size from under 25 mm (e.g. some species of '' Blommersia'') to over 100 mm (e.g. '' Mantidactylus guttulatus''). The subfamily is most famous for the genus '' Mantella'', which contains species that superficially resemble poison dart frogs of the

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

, and have converged on similar

aposematic Aposematism is the advertising by an animal to potential predators that it is not worth attacking or eating. This unprofitability may consist of any defences which make the prey difficult to kill and eat, such as toxicity, venom, foul taste o ...

colouration and toxins. As of 2 May 2016, there are 128 described species in this subfamily, but several more are described each year.

Systematics

Historically only two genera were recognized within the Mantellinae: '' Mantella'' and '' Mantidactylus''. Several subgenera were recognized within the genus ''Mantidactylus''. These were elevated to genus level in 2006 and are now universally accepted. These are '' Blommersia'', '' Boehmantis'', '' Gephyromantis'', '' Guibemantis'', '' Spinomantis'', and '' Wakea''. ''

Tsingymantis ''Tsingymantis'' is a monotypic genus of frogs in the family Mantellidae. The sole species is ''Tsingymantis antitra''. Taxonomy ''Tsingymantis antitra'' was described in by Glaw, Hoegg and Vences in 2006. Its taxonomic placement within the f ...

'' is also often considered a member of this subfamily.

References

External Links

* Vences, M.; Wahl-Boos, G.; Hoegg, S.; Glaw, F.; Spinelli Oliveira, E.; Meyer, A.; Perry, S. (17 October 2007).
Molecular systematics of mantelline frogs from Madagascar and the evolution of their femoral glands
. ''Biological Journal of the Linnean Society''. 92 (3): 529–539 – via Oxford Academic. Mantellidae Taxa named by Raymond Laurent Tetrapod subfamilies {{Mantellidae-stub